THIS WEEK

2022 NCAA DIVISION II
WOMEN'S ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Nathan Benderson Park / Sarasota, Florida
 
FRIDAY, MAY 27
(heat winners to grand final, rest to reps)
8:24 am PDT — Varsity Eights heat I:  Lane 2–Central Oklahoma, 3–Mercyhurst, 4–Seattle Pacific
8:36 am PDT — Varsity Eights heat II:  Lane 2–Embry-Riddle, 3–Jefferson, 4–Western Washington
8:48 am PDT — Varsity Fours heat I:  Lane 2–Seattle Pacific, 3–Embry-Riddle, 4–Jefferson
9:00 am PDT — Varsity Fours heat II:  Lane 2–Western Washington, 3–Central Oklahoma, 4–Mercyhurst

2:24 pm PDT — Varsity Eights repechage
2:36 pm PDT — Varsity Fours repechage
 
SATURDAY, MAY 28
8:00 am / 8:12 am PDT — Varsity Fours petite / grand finals
8:48 am / 9:00 am PDT — Varsity Eights petite / grand finals
 
For the third time in school history, Seattle Pacific will compete for the team title when the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships are contested, Friday and Saturday, May 27-28 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida. The Falcons will participate at the NCAA regatta for the first time since 2019 and the sixth time overall. Three previous appearances (2007, 2009, 2011) were made by at-large varsity eight entries that did not factor into the team standings. The Falcons' previous foray into the national team competition resulted in a fourth-place result at the 2019 NCAA Championships and the best effort was second in 2010. The finest finish by a Falcons varsity eight was a third-place performance in 2009.
 
Did You Know?
Senior Jennifer Hoag is the only member of SPU's team with prior NCAA regatta experience. She rowed in the No. 2 seat of the Falcons varsity four that finished fourth at the 2019 championships. Hoag currently occupies the varsity eight stroke seat.

VIDEO: LeeANN ARRINGTON INTERVIEW

Championship Format
The NCAA Division II championship field consists of six teams, each comprised of one eight- and one four-oared crew. The team champion is determined by combining the results from those two events, with greater importance being given to results from the eight-oared entrants (see chart at lower right). Competition begins Friday, May 27 with heat races. Winners of each heat advance to Saturday's (May 28) grand finals while the remaining four crews compete in repechage races Friday afternoon. The top-two finishers in each repechage will complete the grand finals fields and the other two race in the petite finals. This is the second year all six qualifiers are included in the team competition, which previously featured just four complete teams and two at-large varsity eight crews. The 2021 field was reduced to four teams due to the pandemic.
 
Championship Field
Two boats will represent Seattle Pacific at the NCAA Championships, the varsity eight and varsity four. The Falcons will be joined in the team competition by top-seeded Mercyhurst, the national runner-up in 2021 and East Region automatic qualifier, along with Embry-Riddle from the South Region and West Region No. 1 seed Western Washington. Also competing will be at-large qualifiers Thomas Jefferson (formerly Philadelphia University) and three-time defending national champion Central Oklahoma. The NCAA Division II championships are held in conjunction with the Division I and III competitions with separate champions declared in each division.
 
Falcons Fast Facts
In races during the 2022 spring season, SPU's varsity eight compiled a 2-8 record versus NCAA qualifiers (1-2 vs UCO, 1-5 vs WWU, 0-1 vs Embry-Riddle) and the four was 5-4 (4-1 vs WWU, 1-2 vs UCO, 0-1 vs Embry-Riddle) ... SPU has won nine national team titles, in three sports: five in men's soccer, three in gymnastics and, most recently, a 2008 women's soccer crown ... Four Falcons in the traveling team are novices in their first year of collegiate competition ... The squad is evenly split between eight upperclassmen (5 seniors & 3 juniors) and eight underclassmen (4 sophomores & 4 freshmen) ... Half (8) of the 16 SPU student-athletes traveling to Sarasota are from Washington state.
 
 

Rower of the Year
SPU senior Jennifer Hoag was honored as the Rower of the Year, joining teammates LeeAnn Arrington and Macie Leach on the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference team announced May 20. Hoag was named to the 11-person all-conference squad for the second straight season, one of only three repeat selections. Last year, she was one of just two non-seniors on the inaugural All-GNAC team. The senior from Seattle Christian High School captains the Falcons and made an immediate impact upon rejoining the varsity eight crew, moving into the stroke seat. Hoag had been rowing in the varsity four boat before moving into the eight-oared crew. With Hoag onboard, SPU halved a nine-second deficit versus regional rival Western Washington from the previous week, showing more speed at the May 7 Windermere Cup. At the GNAC Championships on May 14, she sparked an impressive rally from fourth place. The Falcons swept past two crews and nearly caught WWU, placing second by less than one second in the varsity eight final. Arrington and Leach are departing seniors for the Falcons and both are members of SPU's GNAC runner-up varsity eight. A product of Empire (Okla.) High School, Arrington serves as the coxswain. Leach, a junior, is one of only three non-seniors on the All-GNAC squad. The graduate of Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, California occupies the No. 7 seat in SPU's top crew.
 
Meet Coach McClain
 

Caitlin McClain is in her second season as women's head coach after directing SPU to a No. 2 national ranking in her inaugural campaign. The former Loyola Marymount standout, who served 15 years at the helm of the Holy Names Academy prep program in Seattle, was hired on Aug. 8, 2021 to coach the Falcons. McClain provides a wealth of rowing experience to SPU, including competitive stints at HNA and Loyola Marymount along with national coaching duties with USRowing. She served as the women's lead coach for the 2021 Under-19 National Team, which competed in August at the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships in Bulgaria. She previously served as an assistant coach for the Under-19 women's national team in 2014 and then was promoted to CanAmMex coach in 2016 and the junior world championships coach in 2019. McClain made Holy Names a major player at the national level. Her Cougars crews accumulated 10 medals and won national championships in 2015 and 2017 at the junior club regatta. She coached three rowers and two coxswains who went on to make World Rowing Junior Championships squads. As a competitor, McClain captained Holy Names her final two years, in 2000 and 2001, and helped the varsity four crew to a silver medal at the nationals her senior season. Her rowing career continued at Loyola Marymount where she occupied the stroke seat of the varsity eight for every race as a freshman. The Lions thrived during her four seasons, reaping titles at the West Coast Conference, WIRA and San Diego Crew Classic regattas. McClain replaced Andrew Derrick, who served four seasons from 2017 through 2020.
 
Quoting Coach Caitlin McClain
"We're so ecstatic. It's just a feeling of excitement and pride for the team," SPU coach Caitlin McClain said after the NCAA field was announced, one year after the 2021 team was not selected. "When they finally showed our name on the screen, the immediate reaction of the group was so satisfying to see, especially after last year's difficult ending. We raced so hard this year against so many different opponents, so it was hard to imagine that we wouldn't have gotten the bid. There was optimism there. But there was also that little bit of uncertainty."
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC LINEUPS
Varsity Eight
cox – LeeAnn Arrington (Sr./Empire, OK/Empire HS)
stroke – Jennifer Hoag (Sr./Normandy Park, WA/Seattle Christian HS)
7 – Macie Leach (Jr./Chico, CA/Pleasant Valley HS)
6 – Jacinta Grandel (Jr./Palmer, AK/Rosary HS)
5 – Natalie Korolenko (So./Redmond, WA/Cedar Park Christian HS)
6 – Elise Arkills (So./Tacoma, WA/Curtis HS)
4 – Kalais Samuelson (Jr./Beaverton, OR/Sunset HS)
2 – Danielle Johnson (Sr./Mill Creek, WA/Jackson HS)
bow – Hannah Miller (So./East Lyme, CT/East Lyme HS)

Varsity Four
cox – Moxie McCandless (Jr./Albuquerque, NM/Albuquerque Academy HS)
stroke – Megan Popielak (So./Petaluma, CA/Petaluma HS)
3 – Avalon Tarbet-Mendoza (Sr./Vancouver, WA/Columbia River HS)
2 – Audrey Rekedal (Fr./Pasadena, CA/Maranatha HS)
bow – Kristin Grassell (Fr./Des Moines, WA/Evergreen Lutheran HS)

Spares
Addie Clark (Fr./Olympia, WA/Olympia HS)
Ingrid Erickson (Fr./Renton, WA/Kentridge HS)